R32 Buyer

[GSXR6Mac]

Hey All.

Name is Mac, brother to 2 Liter Turbo.

Hoping you guys can maybe lend some insight and potential knowledge about R32 Skylines. I am looking to purchase one and went to look at two today. Both are 1992 & located in London. I am stationed north of London and plan on being here till December of 2017.

I looked at the first one (http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/ ... ee/3199510) and absolutely loved it. It has 48K miles on it (saw the Export Certificate and mileages matches)It is pretty darn clean minus a few small nicks, but hey, its a 1992 car. It looks to be 100% stock minus the exhaust with I like. Hell, it even has the Chassis Number etched on the glass. Converting price puts it in the $21K ballpark, shipped to my door, about 2.5 hours north of London, as I would have to unfortunately pay in pounds.


Now, where things get interesting is this second car. (http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/ ... st/4216484) Now, this car claims to be a N1 Spec Tribute, with only 22K Miles. . I have done a few searches and I cannot find anything about "Tribute" cars. The guy claims this is how he bought the car in Japan exactly like this with the N1 (24U) stamped block, turbos and everything. Car doesn't have the rear wiper, but has AC/ABS/Trunk Carpet, unlike a true N1. This car clearly has more work done to it, as the ECU has been re-flashed, upgraded injectors plus a few others things. Bodywork isn't as clean, and the dash was converted over to Miles, no longer showing Kilometers. This car is the same price as the one above, more goodies, but bodywork not as clean.

So in essence, I am A: Wondering if anyone knows about this "N1 Tribute" as I don't want to risk paying and importing a car just to find out it isn't "Originally Un-Modified" and B: Any input on price, condition, or something I might have missed, etc? I took a flash light with me and looked over both cars pretty well, and didn't find any rust on either car, so cosmetic work is mostly just paint.

I have included the Chassis Plate for the 2nd R32, that shows it's not a ZN or AA, but an MA. It's a bit hard to read, but you if you tilt your head enough times, you can read all the letters.




Thanks for any insight or help. :cheers

[2_Liter_Turbo]

Hey brotha! Hopefully a more knowledgeable skyline guru can chime in You already know my thoughts


BTW, I'm still not happy you're beating me to the punch! Ha ha ha

[joshga]

if i was in your position(assuming you are US mil???) and when you say stationed until 2017, meaning you will come back to the states, i would buy something a little bit newer that would not be importable here in the US at this time. You could potentially save quite a bit of money this way as the US importable cars are getting up there in price. The price for US importable skylines will not go down either, but thats just my opinion. I pulled the trigger on the one i bought 2 weeks ago, and it seems i can't find any in the range of what i paid for mine that are up for sale. mine is full of mods, some i will have to remove/replace like the tiny little seats... and BGW on the back, other than a few small pieces here and there, i think i got a great deal on mine with all the mods.

id look at the newest possible R32 you could import in 2017.

[GSX-R35]

"N1 Tribute" is basically the same as "clone" - it's not the real Elvis, just some white dude dressed up as him. The only official N1 cars Nissan released were the 228 that came from the factory as N1 cars with an N1 block, no rear wiper, no ABS, solid rotors, no stereo and AC, and with the Nismo aero kit. They also came only in Crystal White with no clear coat. Because they were factory specials - same as the 560 Nismo R32s released earlier - they command a premium now with prices usually double or triple that of regular R32s. This car may have come from Japan specc'ed like that but it didn't come from the factory that way nor did Nissan sell cars as "N1 Tributes".

I know for sure that's not a real N1 even without the serial plate being legible because I can see the ABS plumbing in the picture which a true N1 wouldn't have in the first place. In short, that car is basically a regular R32 that's been modified afterwards with some N1 bits so it should be priced accordingly. Bigger question for me is why is the plate so badly deteriorated - I've seen some uncared-for R32s and they had perfectly good serial plates. The extra mods may be enticing but me personally, I would rather pass on that car for two reasons related to that plate:

1) When it comes time to import it to the States - if that's your plan - you may run into issues with an illegible serial plate. There are only two places the serial is found on a Skyline - the plate and the firewall. If one is very hard to read like this you may run into issues with customs at import or almost certainly later on at DMV. DMV usually gets anal over checking for TWO legible VINS and if one of yours is already hard to read, well, get ready to rage against the machine. My own run-around with the DMV with my Nismo over the VIN plus stories from others of the rigamarole they went through with perfectly legible plates make me scared to think what grief you'd get with this car.

2) Serial plates on Skylines have been known to be tampered with for import/export purposes. I'm not saying this one was for sure but just knowing it's a hazard would make me stay away from a car with a plate in this condition.

If you want more info on what to inspect on an R32, check out this article I compiled:

http://23gt.blogspot.com/2015/05/buying ... -tips.html

[GSXR6Mac]

if i was in your position(assuming you are US mil???) and when you say stationed until 2017, meaning you will come back to the states, i would buy something a little bit newer that would not be importable here in the US at this time. You could potentially save quite a bit of money this way as the US importable cars are getting up there in price. The price for US importable skylines will not go down either, but thats just my opinion. I pulled the trigger on the one i bought 2 weeks ago, and it seems i can't find any in the range of what i paid for mine that are up for sale. mine is full of mods, some i will have to remove/replace like the tiny little seats... and BGW on the back, other than a few small pieces here and there, i think i got a great deal on mine with all the mods.

id look at the newest possible R32 you could import in 2017.

This is why I am looking into 1992. I am in the military, and due back to the US December of 2017. The first white one is a July of 92 car, and will be 6 months older than required by time it lands in the USA.

I could potentially find a early model 1993, but I would like to not have to leave it behind here in the UK and rely on someone else to ensure it gets taken care of.

[GSXR6Mac]

"N1 Tribute" is basically the same as "clone" - it's not the real Elvis, just some white dude dressed up as him. The only official N1 cars Nissan released were the 228 that came from the factory as N1 cars with an N1 block, no rear wiper, no ABS, solid rotors, no stereo and AC, and with the Nismo aero kit. They also came only in Crystal White with no clear coat. Because they were factory specials - same as the 560 Nismo R32s released earlier - they command a premium now with prices usually double or triple that of regular R32s. This car may have come from Japan specc'ed like that but it didn't come from the factory that way nor did Nissan sell cars as "N1 Tributes".

I know for sure that's not a real N1 even without the serial plate being legible because I can see the ABS plumbing in the picture which a true N1 wouldn't have in the first place. In short, that car is basically a regular R32 that's been modified afterwards with some N1 bits so it should be priced accordingly. Bigger question for me is why is the plate so badly deteriorated - I've seen some uncared-for R32s and they had perfectly good serial plates. The extra mods may be enticing but me personally, I would rather pass on that car for two reasons related to that plate:

1) When it comes time to import it to the States - if that's your plan - you may run into issues with an illegible serial plate. There are only two places the serial is found on a Skyline - the plate and the firewall. If one is very hard to read like this you may run into issues with customs at import or almost certainly later on at DMV. DMV usually gets anal over checking for TWO legible VINS and if one of yours is already hard to read, well, get ready to rage against the machine. My own run-around with the DMV with my Nismo over the VIN plus stories from others of the rigamarole they went through with perfectly legible plates make me scared to think what grief you'd get with this car.

2) Serial plates on Skylines have been known to be tampered with for import/export purposes. I'm not saying this one was for sure but just knowing it's a hazard would make me stay away from a car with a plate in this condition.

If you want more info on what to inspect on an R32, check out this article I compiled:

http://23gt.blogspot.com/2015/05/buying ... -tips.html

That is what I basically figured, but wanted to do some research just incase, I'd hate for a car to show up and then lose the car because it isn't "Original". I thought the Serial Plate was worn pretty good too, and thought that was odd as well. Thanks.

[GSX-R35]

That is what I basically figured, but wanted to do some research just incase, I'd hate for a car to show up and then lose the car because it isn't "Original". I thought the Serial Plate was worn pretty good too, and thought that was odd as well. Thanks.

I think you're on the right track with the first car you mentioned. It looks clean and unmolested. Sure, it doesn't have the fancy mods the second one has but that's probably a plus for two reasons:

1) Lots of R32 owners have run into more problems because of retarded stuff previous owners have done to the car than any inherent problems of the vehicle. Things like wiring harnesses Scotchloked to hell and back, bodywork put on improperly, cheap parts etc. etc. The more modified an R32 is, the more likely crap like that's going to be present.

2) The EPA exemption for importing foreign cars specifies that the engine and associated components be "in original configuration". The extent of that is vague and many a modified R32 has gotten through because they're more concerned with engine swaps than the odd air intake or exhaust kit but a car with a lot of obviously aftermarket parts like that "N1 Tribute" could conceivably be turned away at the port. Yes, there's a decent chance it'll slip through but considering the cost of importing a Skyline why risk it, especially when you throw in the illegible serial plate?

[GSXR6Mac]

To be honest, I wasn't really looking for any fancy mods, I wanted something as stock as possible to ensure it hopefully was unmolested. I wanted to look into it, just incase there was some legitimacy to the "Tribute", but for the get go I knew it could be a problem, but I was in London to view the first car, so why not drive a "400hp" car.

Now to see if I can get the first one under my cap, though I might have already tipped my hand.